Tuesday, 5 June 2007

Blimey, is it June already? Must be time for a few random thoughts, this time prompted by some upcoming action from some old favourites.

The new Crowded House album is less than a month away, which is of course a fine, fine thing indeed. Anyone who knows me will appreciate how exciting the prospect is of a new set of songs from the master himself, Mr Neil Finn. The brilliant video for the comeback single Don't Stop Now is a work of genius. I'm desperately trying to avoid the leaked album tracks that are doing the rounds - this is going to be one those 'event' releases, one that demands a sit-down-in-a-darkened-room-with-the-volume-right-up, listen-from-start-to-finish kind of attitude. I don't find the need to do that too often nowadays... But if the idea of a Crowded House revival floats your boat too, here's an old rarity to tide you over til 'Time On Earth' hits the shops at the start of July:

Macca's back as well, and, given how fantastic his last record was (2005's 'Chaos & Creation In The Backyard'), expectations are high for 'Memory Almost Full'. Hoping for a career best is obviously a little optimistic, but here's the standard he needs to look at trying to match:

And last but by no means least, a little bit of Scott Walker activity, as the hugely anticipated '30 Century Man' doco eventually comes to Leeds for a handful of showings at the Hyde Park Picture House in the middle of June. An edited version was shown on TV recently, which whetted the appetite. Just acquired a copy of the lost classic and nigh-on impossible to find 'Till The Band Comes In' (occasionally referred to as 'should-have-been-Scott-5'), which has some crackers on it, not least the stunning title track: